


The Bug and the (Former)Bee

by QingsAndKueens



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste is Not Sunshine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Bashing, Alya Césaire Bashing, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, But everyone is like 16 or 17, Chat Noir!Chloé, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Chloé Bourgeois Sugar, F/F, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Internalized Homophobia, Lesbian Chloé Bourgeois, Lila Rossi Bashing, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Deserves Better, Minor Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Minor Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, No Lila Rossi Redemption, No Smut, One-Sided Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Lila Rossi, One-Sided Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Protective Chloé Bourgeois, Salty Chloé Bourgeois, Salty Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sexual Harassment, The story takes place in the same timeline as the show, not adrien-friendly, salt fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26032648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QingsAndKueens/pseuds/QingsAndKueens
Summary: Things appear to be going downhill for poor Marinette as she puts up with the incessant attacks by her classmates, and is affected by the reluctance of Adrien. She teams up with Chloe Bourgeois, forming an unlikely comradery between the two, albeit strained.Meanwhile, Ladybug is sick of the treatment she is given by Chat Noir and confides in Tikki, who suggests something unlikely and unheard of.
Relationships: Chloé Bourgeois/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 13
Kudos: 694





	The Bug and the (Former)Bee

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for being patient and reading the overhaul of this story :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We start at the end of Chameleon.

**"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."**

* * *

“Of course Ladybug saved my life! She never misses an opportunity to save her best friend,” The cheery brunette chirped, revelling in the surprised and excited gasps of her peers. She was sitting on a bench in the courtyard, her schoolmates surrounding her, listening intently to her recount of the day’s activity, in which she was akumatized and saved.

Max, the resident scientist, looked intrigued, hands behind his back, “Didn’t your Tinnitus give you vertigo when you went up the Eiffel Tower?”

“Oh! No,” Lila replied easily, “Ladybug knows me so well that she brought me an earplug to stick in my right ear!”

The class was too far away to hear the angered growling of Marinette, seated on the green steps leading up to the classrooms. She was secretly the superheroine that Lila was spewing lies about to maintain social status, and it bothered her. “Right ear?” She balled up her fists, “Did she say  _ right  _ ear?! This morning she said the ringing was in her  _ left _ ear!” The raven-haired girl made to stand up, stepping down the incline with purpose and fury, “I’ve got her  _ this _ time!”

As she made her way to the very last step, the boy leaning on the bottom of the stairs piped up, his green eyes never leaving the gaggle of students surrounding the bench for a second, “Are you gonna tell everyone?”

Marinette glanced his way, “‘Course I am! Lila’s a-”

“-a liar,” he finished her sentence, “Yes, I know.” He paused as Marinette’s arms slumped down at her sides, “But do you really think exposing her will make things better? If you humiliate her, she’ll just be hurt more.”

The kicked puppy look the blonde fixed her was whittling away at her fire. Marinette was so blindsided by him that she didn’t stop to think, just for a moment,  _ ‘What would that hurt be adding onto? She’s slowly ruining my life.’ _

“Making the bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy,” he attempts to reason once more, turning to look at the lying brunette again.

Lila smiled up at her classmates, aware of yet not acknowledging the two discussing her not a few feet away. “Ladybug and I are like two peas in a pod.”

“So we just stand by and let her lie…?” Marinette asked, frowning. It didn’t feel right to her at all, but Adrien had never been the focal point of the class’ ire before. Perhaps he was right.

The model gave her friend a lopsided smile, shaking his head timidly, “As long as you and I both know, does it really matter?”

“...You’re right. Maybe it’s not such a big deal.”

Maybe, if given the time to reflect on the conversation, Marinette would realise that sitting idly by and letting others fall for the scummy tricks of another was, yes, maybe the best way to handle things, but it was also cowardly. Nobody she knew had made a positive change just by standing by and allowing things to play out.

Adrien had, unknowingly, backed the ravenette into a theoretical corner. They were good friends, and good friends listened to the advice of each other. The last thing Marinette wanted to do was disappoint Adrien, after spending so much time getting to know him and having him think positively about her. Did it really, truly matter that this ‘high road’ went against everything Marinette knew about being a decent person?

Yet she didn’t have time to dwell on the conversation as the bell rang, telling it’s students to return to class, and that their break time was over. Marinette got caught up in the crowd as she entered the classroom, waving to Alya, her best friend, as she took her seat at the very back of the room, turning her head to look out the window.

Everything was going to be fine, because she had Adrien on her side, and Adrien never did any wrong.

“Good for you for taking the high road, Marinette.”

Said girl started at the voice of Adrien beside her. Her bluebell gaze broke from the outside and back to her desk, eyebrows raising high into her hairline as she realised he was sitting down beside her. “Hey…” he chuckled, “It’s pretty cool back here!”

The ravenette spaced out as Ms. Bustier began to read out the attendance list. She could barely pry her eyes away from her desk-mate’s perfect face, so much so that Adrien had to verbally interrupt her thought process to inform her that Ms. Bustier had called her name three times already.

“Looks like you do have trouble hearing after all, Marinette. Come sit up here in the front row next to Lila,” Ms. Bustier instructed, tilting her head in the brunette’s direction.

The two girls looked at each other fearfully and, as the one at the back began to stand up, the girl at the front raised her hand frantically, “Ms Bustier? This is incredible!” She hugged her palms to her chest, “My tinnitus! I don’t feel it anymore! It’s gone- it’s a miracle!” She raised up from her seat and began walking around the desk, “It must be Ladybug’s doing! I can sit in the back now.”

Marinette and Lila crossed paths as they swapped seats, the former sighing mournfully at what she had just screwed up. Alya piped up from behind her, “Excuse me, Ms. Bustier, can I go and sit next to Marinette? Nino and I can’t stop chatting it up.” At the teacher’s affirmative nod, the bespectacled girl stood up, punching her boyfriend’s shoulder playfully, before hopping into the bench beside her best friend. “You didn’t think I’d let my BFF sit all by herself, did you?”

Marinette smiled, but kept her thoughts to herself.  _ ‘I wish you would’ve done the same when I was sitting alone up in the back all morning.’ _

And so the massive class seat swap began, and everyone eventually ended up back in their old seats, barring Nino and Adrien. Ms. Bustier sighed thankfully, happy she’d deal with no more arguing over whose seat was whose.

* * *

“Catch ya later Marinette, bye!” Nino grinned, intertwining his fingers with Alya’s and using his free hand to wave to his childhood friend. Marinette reciprocated, turning to walk in the opposite direction before physically bumping into Lila, who was glaring with her arms folded.

“I see you’ve made your decision,” Lila’s glare turned into a small smirk, leaning in to make sure nobody but Marinette would hear her speaking, “From now on, you and I are at war. You will lose your friends and wind up  _ all _ alone, and Adrien will soon be mine.”

Marinette gaped as Lila leaned back to a standing position, before smiling sardonically in the brunette’s face, “We’ll see about that, Lila, we’ll see.” He patted the other girl on the shoulder before walking by her, eager to return home to her parent’s bakery. Just grinning and taking it was unbearable, and her face fell into a grim expression as soon as Lila couldn’t see her anymore. Everything about what had just happened felt wrong.

The brunette watched as Marinette walked away, scoffing and deciding it was time to head home herself. Turning the corner, though, she was greeted by the rare sight of the Mayor’s daughter lounging on a bench, her chauffeur late. It was surprising, he was usually on time. Plastering her sugary sweet smile on her face, she approached the blonde, mind buzzing with ideas. With Chloe on her side she could get practically anything.

“Chloe! Wow, we haven’t had the chance to talk one-on-one yet! You know, I don’t believe what the others say about you, you’re probably a really nice person on the inside!” She crooned.

The blonde gave her a side glance, before scoffing. “No, you should believe it.”

Thrown for a loop, the brunette blinked in confusion. Nobody had ever done that before, usually they’d thank her for being so kind and friendly. “Wh- what?”

Chloe put her phone back in her pocket and finally turned to actually look at Lila, a frown etched on her face, “Every bad thing that class says about me is true, and you know what? I’m glad. I own those idiots, and if you think you can get away with manipulating them and removing the spotlight from  _ ME _ , then you’re dead wrong.”

_ ‘She sees through it too?’ _ Lila rolled her eyes, “We can be partners, we can take control of them all together.”

The limousine Chloe had been waiting on pulled up along the sidewalk and the Mayor’s daughter stood up, stretching an arm out in front of herself. She tilted her head and fixed Lila with a smirk, “I don’t share. Bye.” Butler Jean exited the driver side door and walked around the vehicle, holding a door open for Chloe to slip inside before closing it and returning to the driver’s seat and driving away.

Lila watched as the car left the vicinity and grumbled. Looks like she made two enemies, and from different sides of the social ladder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :D  
> Thanks everyone for being patient and stick with me on this, it's the longest thing I've written and the most effort I've put into something in a long time.  
> We'll be having Adrien as Chat Noir for a bit longer, so my deepest apologies to anyone who is affected by his behaviour on the show like I am, but don't worry, the plot will move on soon enough.  
> This is a romance story, but also a story about two girls trying to improve themselves and accept themselves.


End file.
